Posted on 08/01/2004 9:21:02 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Knowledge is power and that is especially true in politics. Therein lies the danger to California if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger follows through with threats to turn the state Legislature into an underpaid "part-time" body.
Blaming legislators (Democrats publicly, both parties privately) and not his own budget giveaway deals for delaying this year's spending plan, Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman has told the Los Angeles Times that the governor may seek revenge. That would come in the form of a special election next year. This election may or may not seek constitutional changes to shrink the legislative calendar to a part-time status, strip their ability to redraw districts and further restrict campaign contributions.
The governor has the advantage in this fight, for the public has plenty of lingering and legitimate anger about the California Legislature. This branch of government has lost the art of compromise. Members of both parties often appear to be little more than lackeys of unions, doctors, developers, trial lawyers, business groups and other interests that fund their political careers. On subject after subject, from electricity restructuring to health care for the uninsured to promoting the right incentives for local governments, the Legislature time and again has fallen short. No doubt about it, this is a troubled institution. Making this deliberative body even less informed than it is now, however, would make matters worse.
That is the inevitable impact of a part-time Legislature. Making lawmakers part-timers doesn't make the problems any easier to solve. If lawmakers have less time to conduct hearings and to deliberate - and maybe, just maybe, to find common ground with leaders of differing views - they will turn to someone else for the solution. The Capitol's lobbying corps - immune from the threat of part-time status, will happily step in to help the lawmakers.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Anyone who has walked thru the California capitol knows it is nauseating palatial, and a showcase for government spending run amok.
I would like a future government to raze the place, and erect a circus tent instead.
What a ridiculous argument. These people have entirely too much time on their hands to think up nutty new ways to impose their view of an ideal society on us. Adding feng shui to the building code. Banning school team mascots based on ethnic stereotypes. Banning the production of foie gras. Yada yada yada. They're already owned, body and soul, by the "special interests," because they have too much power and time to exercise it, so naturally every monied interest is there pumping campaign cash and bribes at them. If you make them part time, with an appropriate cut in pay, you'll force them to get real jobs and live like the rest of us, and to prioritize the legislation they propose instead of throwing every utopian fantasy bill into the hopper.
Yes. The whole place needs a major shake-up and I can see no better way than the voters forcing them into a part-time role.
bttt
To the scumbags at the "sac", this means Republicans refuse to allow more and more tax hikes.
Let's try it. Leg. must be out of session (except for any special sessions called by the Gov) from "passage of budget" (summer) through, say, December. Let them meet Dec/Jan through midsummer only.
Cut their salaries in half. Cut their staff budgets in half. No more car payments.
Try it for six years and let's see if we're really worse off as a result.
California had this for many years.
Texas has a part time legislature, and they solve their problems very effectively. The jerks running Sacramento make me wonder what is in the water. People are fleeing this state as fast as possible, and the cost of trying to bail out the state from the excess spending of the prior & current bunch of dummies will take years.
Arnold is correct in merging many agencies which are duplicates and overlapping. The many "commissions" are window dressing with barely monthly meetings for just a couple of hours, and the salaries for these appointed jobs is nothing more than payoffs to the politically positioned hacks. Making over $100,000/year for less than 30 hours "work" is beyond obscene. This is an "up yours" to the citizens of California. Biggest problem is that most of todays politicians in Calif have been bred and raised on this kind of status. They take it for granted. Arnold is the only hope to break the pattern. Some of the structures of these departments makes the featherbedding on the railroads look like grade school.
underpaid "part-time" body.
Doesn't the Texas legislature work part-time? Wouldn't Californians be better served by people who are contributing rather than career-building?
The problem is the politicians in California aren't accountable to their constituents and get paid for passing silly laws. A part-time legislature would bring them closer to the people and they would have less time to fool around and that means with term limits, they'd have to do the work that matters. I can't find any downside here.
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